Saturday, February 7, 2015

The imagination is an unlimited source of entertainment, and authors, screenwriters, artists of all types, tap into this sacred resource to provide the best in story telling.

I've read a few books since Christmas that I would qualify as engaging stories. At least they kept me occupied and engaged, which with the characters in my head constantly clamoring for attention, is a hard thing to achieve these days.

The Chronicles of the Uprising by K.A. Salidas is a series that kept me entertained from the beginning and I now have blasted my way through them all. I really enjoyed this one, especially since it combines vampires and gladiators and Mira - the main character - is wonderfully complex and capable. Ms. Salidas did a fantastic job bringing us into the dystopian world of the future. If you haven't picked up this series, and you like unique vampire lore, this is a must read.

I was a little hesitant to pick up Monster by Carmen Caine based on the reviews, but it was a free book and I still hadn't formulated the next scene in my upcoming novel Magick, so I downloaded this. Again, it's a vampire type theme and while I could see some of the inconsistencies some of the reviewer's mentioned, overall, it's an intriguing story line. I found the tension between Lucien and Cassidy compelling. The hot/cold of it was aggravating, but it kept me reading and silently wishing the two would let their guard down and just give in.

Both these stories are great examples of exceptional storytelling. They both have the ability to draw the reader into their worlds to the point we have to keep reading to find out what happens next.

A non-paranormal series that carries this same sense of urgency and dynamics between main characters is The Charlotte Hayes series by S.S. Lange. I may be biased on this for a couple reasons, the first is that I chose to publish this intense series - it has a solid story line with a kick ass female lead, and as a publisher, I couldn't pass on the story. The second reason was why I got to read the first draft of that first book. This wasn't a submission that came through our publishing house. You see, Ms. Lange is family and she asked me for feedback on her first foray into writing fiction. The last thing she expected when she sent me her rough draft was an offer of a publishing contract, but it was THAT good and after a conversation about her publishing options (i.e. going traditional, publishing with a small press, or self publishing), she made the choice to sign on with Novel Concept Publishing. If you like FBI suspense thrillers, then pick up this series, you won't be disappointed.

As a reader, I love to get sucked into a story and, as a writer, I have a high respect for authors that can do this without fail and the examples above certainly qualify.

As far as what I have on tap this year - well, my releases include Magick, a story about a ghost gone bad, and Angel Blood - the next book in the Ryan Chronicles series.